Rice hires Brian Smith, Jerry Mack as Mike Bloomgren's coordinators

Updated 7:25 pm, Friday, December 8, 2017

Rice head coach Mike Bloomgren and Brian Smith didn't just share an office as they worked as quality control specialists for the New York Jets starting in 2007, they started on the same day.

Ten years later, Smith will join Bloomgren just days after the former was officially named the new head coach at Rice University.

Bloomgren began to construct his new staff with two key hires on Friday, tabbing Smith as the Owls' new defensive coordinator after two years coaching Michigan's secondary.

Rice will name North Carolina Central University head coach Jerry Mack as the new offensive coordinator while Smith will take the reins from interim head coach, Brian Stewart.

Mack led the historically black college in Durham, N.C. to a 31-15 record during his four-year tenure at the school—good for the third highest winning percentage in school history (67%).

His team shared three Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships, while leading the school to the Celebration Bowl where they lost to a ranked Grambling State team in 2016. His Eagles finished 7-4 this season.

Mack started his coaching career as an offensive graduate assistant at Delta State University where he coached running backs and worked as assistant special teams coordinator and video coordinator. There he worked with Bloomgren, who was the offensive coordinator at Delta State from 2005 to 2006.

Stanford offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren talks during a news conference in Los Angeles, Monday, Dec. 28, 2015. Stanford is scheduled to play Iowa in the Rose Bowl NCAA college football game on New Year's Day. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Stanford offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren talks during a news conference in Los Angeles, Monday, Dec. 28, 2015. Stanford is scheduled to play Iowa in the Rose Bowl NCAA college football game on New Year's

While Bloomgren is known for a West Coast-based power attack, Mack brings a more open, spread philosophy. He likes a dual-threat quarterback so he can spread the defense out with three and four receiver sets, but similar to Bloomgren, he likes to use his tight ends in a number of ways.

"I think it's going to be a combination of our two systems," he said. "Obviously it's going to be entrenched in a lot of things they did at Stanford. I'm going to come in and help and put my two cents in to make sure we collaborate the two systems to be efficient."

Smith spent the 2015 season with the Philadelphia Eagles, where he was the team's assistant linebackers coach, before departing for Ann Arbor in 2016. Prior to joining the Eagles' staff, he served eight seasons with the New York Jets from 2007-2014.

"I'm really excited about it. I left a great situation in Michigan; I feel like they have a lot of talent and a bright future, but the opportunity to work with coach Bloomgren is just too good to pass up," Smith said.

"You knew early on that he'd be a head coach someday. The way he carries himself; his knowledge of the game; the way he relates to people; the way players feel about him, you don't see that in every coach. Whatever that 'It' factor is, he's got it and I want to be with a coach like that," he said.

"We used to dream of this situation being the head coach and the coordinator together."

ESPN first reported Smith's hiring while HBCU Gameday was the first to report on Mack.